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Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains. At 5:11 am, the temperature outside is 43.5 degrees.

Today will be sunny with a high temperature in the mid-50’s. Tonight, the temps will fall into the upper 20’s. The weekend will be about the same. It will be warmer Monday. Rain arrives Monday night and will continue through Tuesday morning.

Little River is flowing at 2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 4.56 feet on the flow gauge. Median flow for this date is 344 cfs. The water temperature is 50.0 degrees this morning.

2.87 inches of rain fell Wednesday through yesterday in Townsend. Further to our south, at Tellico Plains, 3.84” was reported for the same period.

Little River peaked at 3,870 cfs or 6.16 feet yesterday afternoon at about 4 pm. Tellico River peaked at about the same time, at 9,310 cfs or 10.0 feet on that gauge.

The streams in the Smoky Mountains are too high to safely fish. The streams in the Cherokee National Forest to our south, are worse.

The ground is saturated. These rivers will take some time to recede to normal flows. Additionally, cold air will drop the water temperatures this weekend, further slowing the fishing.

This will not be a good weekend to be traveling to Townsend to fly fish for trout. You would find high and chilly water. Most anglers prefer to see the gauge reading at 2.5 feet or below, and water temperatures above 50 degrees.

Below is the long-term prediction compiled by the National Weather Service for our area:

“The Climate Outlook for the month of March shows no discernible trends on the temperature forecast, meaning there are equal chances for below...near...or above normal temperatures. But there is a slightly elevated expectation for above normal precipitation.

The longer term Climate Outlook for the 3 month period of March through May indicates slightly elevated expectations for above normal temperatures and above normal precipitation.”

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is coping with the heavy rains we have had in this region. They are holding back water at the secondary or “tributary” lakes, until the flows in the Tennessee River recede some. Then, TVA will begin releasing more water at the tributary dams. There is an interesting story about how these decisions are made on the WBIR website. You can see that story by CLICKING HERE.

I looked at the lake levels. They don’t look bad at all. TVA is spilling at Watts Bar dam, but only generating at Fort Loudoun this morning. They want to lower all lakes as soon as possible, preparing for more Spring rain, without flooding towns and cities downstream.

Walter Babb will be featured at our last Winter Free Fly Tying Demonstration held tomorrow (Saturday). He will be tying flies and talking to you from 10 am until 2 pm at the shop. Just show up. It’s free. You will learn a lot about fly fishing in the Southern Appalachians, by spending a few hours with Walter.

Walter has a great sense of humor. He has been teaching at our fly fishing school for over 20 years. I don’t know anyone, except for maybe Lefty Kreh, who knows and remembers more about fly fishing, than Walter. Aside from that, he is also a great person and a good friend of mine.

Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.

Byron Begley
March 2, 2018